they have not just isis in the wake of paris, they re also targeting hamas and the taliban, which are isis enemies. so, you know, look, they may have some impact, but i think really, the major impact here is not vigilantes, it s coordinated action by international governments, and that s what s sorely lacking. evan kohlmann, always good to talk with you. thanks so much. thank you. we ll be back in a few minutes. how i stay active. so i need nutrition. that won t weigh me down. for the nutrition you want without the calories you don t. introducing boost 100 calories. each delicious snack size drink gives you. 25 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. so it s big in nutrition and small in calories. i m not about to swim in the slow lane. stay strong. stay active with boost®. hey! how are you?g? where are we watching the game? you ll see. i think my boys have a shot this year. yeah, especially with this new offense we re running.
one of the groups he s no longer affiliated with said he s still alive, he s fine. especially in this part of the world, they tend to move fluidly between these groups and isis have having an odd effect in terms of like we ve seen in afghanistan pushing some al qaeda des dents out into their own organizations. to what degree they are coordinating, it s very difficult to say. there are thousands of miles that separaaccepting boko haram out in the bush for the most part. is there real actual coordination going on behind the scenes? i want to go i guess this brings us more back to what s happening here in paris.
perhaps, americans who are there all the time, embassy personnel coming and going, academics, aide workers, others, not tourists, people who are there working, contractors and so forth. they also point out that there is a small contingent of u.s. troops who are there all the time in and out of the country on various missions working with a u.n. team that s there as well. there s a u.n. peacekeeping force that s in mali, and that has had engagements from time to time with terrorist organizations, with terrorist operatives, mostly individuals or groups associated with al qaeda, not isis, although the distinction s probably not that important at this point. and lastly, they said that there are indications that all americans have been accounted for, but they re still not sure if some americans are missing or among the fatalities hopefully not but that s the latest we have. still a very fluid situation that they re trying to get a handle on exactly what s happened and what s happening.
you re going to be briefing later on today at the state department, and we ll hear more. thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. thank you very much, chris. and now let s bring in nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel, who is outside the baticlan theater. we ll switch back to the mali hostage situation. there are reports, as you heard, richard, that an al qaeda-affiliated group is claiming responsibility. what else are you hearing? what else are you learning? reporter: that claim of responsibility, which is still at this stage, unconfirmed, says that a local group, an african-based al qaeda affiliated group called the mirabipun has claimed responsibility. it s a group that s attacked in mali before. it s attacked western targets before, which makes the claim credible. it also goes to the local grievances that are in mali right now. since 2012, there has been effectively a civil war in mali with islamists in the north,
eighteenth draggth dragged out for hours, people hiding in the hotel, the terrorists going for ransom. and that s a pattern we ve seen from groups based in the north, this pattern of hostage-taking, of asking for ransom. certainly, you ll hear the name of the group ansar dine. i think we ll be saying that a lot more in the next 24 hours. so, this fits in with what we ve been seeing unfolding in mali in the past sort of three to six months, certainly a ramping up. this, as you just laid out, chris, really a target of opportunity, a target where lots of diplomats are, a gathering place for westerners. frankly, and as we heard our richard engel say, because it s the nicest hotel in the country. it s probably the nice yes host in the country by a long way. so, this is a target of opportunity and while it s in the early hours, we can certainly let history guide us a little bit. cal perry, thank you very much.